Month: November 2017

There’s some lovely examples of Crepe Myrtle trees in the Royal Botanic Gardens. I photographed this one 16th March, 2012 next to Nymphaea Lake (the smaller of the 2 lakes in our Royal Botanic Gardens).

As the gardeners had placed a wooden bench under its shady branches in summer, it was a great place to sit and read (or watch the bird life) on a hot summer’s day.

At the height of its summer flowering, it would spread right over Nymphaea Lake and offer some deep shade for the ducks, (or even Cormorants, Black Swans, Pacific Black Ducks, Dusky Moorhens, Purple Swamphens or Chestnut Teals), who frequented the area.

Today, at 35 degrees, is far to hot for me outdoors in my current home as there is little shade along much of the Maribyrnong River near Frogs Hollow where I live.

The small lake was quite close to the south-eastern entrance of the Gardens and a brisk 5 minute walk to the Garden entrance gate (from my front door) and another 2-3 minutes to walk down to the Lake.

WATER LILY (Nymphaea)

Occasionally, I would even take my tripod over to this area to get some sharper focus on the Water Lily flowers.

Un-edited WATER LILY (Nymphaea)

It was a bit windy in this area, but then, its windy everywhere in Melbourne in my experience. I used to walk along the nearby path on the way to work back in my working days (BC = Before Camera) and on the southern side I would occasionally see what looked like a water-rat of some kind, sitting on some flattened leaves on its hind legs daintily nibbling some food it had foraged.

The first time I saw it, I was so enchanted and amazed, that I felt like I was in a Beatrix Potter storybook. I’d never seen one of these little water creatures before (or since).

Eventually with the start of the Wetlands Project, many of the old reeds disappeared to be replaced by man-made islands and new reed beds. In fact, with the success of the various Wetlands created in the Botanic Gardens, the bird life and turtles nesting have almost disappeared among the high water reeds and grassy banks. Good for the bird life, but a shame for me as an enthusiastic new bird photographer.

The rocks on the southern edge of this small lake were the best places to find Dragonflies around February each year too. In fact, the 3 images below are among my first attempts at photographing a Dragonfly.

Angel’s Trumpet flowers have to be one of the hardest flowers to photograph. I think its one of those species that you have to share several photos from different angles to appreciate their lush, tropical appearance.

They come from the Andes which explains their love of cool winters. The flower sizes vary, but to say they’re 12-14″ long would be a good guess.

Best to try photographing them after the bud starts to open as they deteriorate quickly once fully mature and rain marks the petals, (so not after a recent rainfall). Well, this is my experience of them anyway. Most the trees grow in the shade or semi-shade in the RBG.

ANGEL’S TRUMPET (Brugmansia)

They come in several colours as my early images from 2010 & 2011 show.

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I figure since I’m stuck at home at the moment, I’ll share some of my very early images from when I lived next to the Royal Botanic Gardens from 2000-1015. Some good, some not-so-good.

But always interesting to see the vast array of plant species among the 55,000 plants on this 38 hectare site. Many of these images portray flowers that have now been replaced with more drought tolerant species.

I’ve had great enjoyment from reviewing some of my very old images in recent days. Some of them I can’t even remember taking 🙂

Most of the Agapanthus images below were made with my old 100mm Macro lens in the first 3 weeks of owning a DSLR back in Jan/Feb 2011. I traded it in when I bought the Sony a6000 in early 2015 as I wasn’t using it much.

I didn’t have the slightest clue how to use a DSLR and macro lens in those days, but I do remember I didn’t have the camera set on Auto. I’d already used the Auto setting on my little Canon a3000 point & shoot for 7 months, so I started using my first Canon DSLR on manual I think. I do remember keeping the ISO on 800 all the time as it always seemed to handle the bright sun as well as the shade. I think I let the camera choose the shutter speed. I daresay I had the aperture on 2.8 also as I didn’t know what DOF (depth of field) was either.

I had absolutely no idea about the exposure triangle and the what ISO, shutter speed and aperture were all about.

These flowers looked so bright on the screen last night, I de-saturated the colour slightly, but I daresay the original colour was very bright at the time of shooting 6 years ago.

Last week I mentioned the incessant tweeting by George the House Sparrow on the young Eucalyptus next to my apartment balcony.

I shared the photo (below) at the time, as I can usually see the bird over the top of my computer screen…..(computer is black blur in the lower half of the image frame). The crown colour of the bird does suggest a male.

This morning, I can’t see the bird but can hear tiny little tweets (as well as the incessant loud tweeting from an adult).

I do believe ‘George’, or the incessant sound, is from Georgina AND her eggs have hatched overnight.

This image was made in early September (before I washed the outside of my windows).

I might have to put out some bird seed on the balcony as I did last year (below).

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Unfortunately the bush is thick with new growth and I can’t see a thing, but presume there’s a nest hidden in the foliage. I wish I could share the little ones, but the foliage IS a complete screen.

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All tweeting has just stopped so I presume lunch (its 12.40pm) has just been served.

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On another subject, it truly is amazing what you can see if you look through the window long enough. I spent quite some time watching this butterfly move from daisy to daisy drinking in pollen (I presume), yesterday. This is the same daisy that I planted on 4th November last year and has flowered every day since. I dead-head it regularly to encourage new flowers to form. The flowers have faded from bright pink to a wishy-washy pale pink in the bright Spring sunlight, but they’re still going strong. I’ve also had to cut several branches off as they broke in the strong winds we get in this area.

An early photo of that lovely pink daisy.

There’s never ‘nothing going on‘ in my road. It’s a hive of activity with finches, wrens and sparrows crisscrossing the road from hedge to hedge.

I suspect most of the nests are on the thicker taller trees on the opposite side of the road, but my 150-500mm lens doesn’t quite reach far enough.

I’ve seen crows, ravens, blackbirds, magpie larks, ordinary magpies, grey shrike-thrushes and other birds, whose names I do not know, as well.

Two or three times on a Sunday morning, I’ve heard a flock of ducks quacking as they fly overhead too, but I was way too late to catch them with a camera.

Even the sky was worth watching for a while last night. Low cloud cover was very dark, but in between each racing puff of dark grey cloud you could see the sun reflecting off higher cloud cover. I watch the sun setting nearly every night, but I don’t think I’ve seen quite this effect before.

Waratahs are evergreen shrubs or trees that are densely foliated and the large red flowers are among Australia’s best known wildflowers.

The one in this post was photographed at Melbourne Zoo near the enormous lion enclosure.

This particular enclosure is/was? massive, (might have changed since I was there a couple of years ago), and has a high fenced boardwalk going over the top, so no matter where the lions are (outdoors), you get a great view of them.

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I’ve even managed to photograph the animals through the tough chain wire fence. If you do enough photography practice getting one focal point through tiny wire netting and cages, I can assure you it’s relatively easy.

When I was last at Newell’s Paddock Nature Reserve and Conservation area in the western suburb of Footscray, I saw a tiny patch of Water Buttons next to the large pond. My one shot was completely out of focus when I reviewed it at home, (although you may remember the ‘101’ pink Rounded Noon-flower images did turn out well).

So here’s an example of what they looked like (made from my time living next to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne).

They are so pretty when growing in a great mass.

Since I’ve retrieved an old file off my back-up disc which contains about 14,000 images, I’ve now got a larger selection to share when I’m house-bound and not outdoors walking and doing Photography.

It’s been hot, humid and sticky in Melbourne in the last couple of weeks, with more than a few thunderstorms threatening (depending on what suburb you live in), although I did miss the flooded streets in Melbourne one day last week.

Ominous clouds threatened the skies with a thunderstorm when I set off for a quick walk down to the river, a little way downstream, round the nearest pond and back home again late yesterday.

Am I the only person who takes 2 hours to do a 15-20 minute walk?

Despite the slight breeze it was still humid and muggy, made worse by my long trench coat (with hood). I had to get the umbrella out a couple of times, but the rain only sprinkled a few drops onto my camera lens. Enough to put it in its bag, only to bring it out again 2 minutes later. I’d left my lens cloth at home too, so a handkerchief from my coat pocket had to suffice.

Poor light, but as usual I, took a hundred and one photos of nothing much in particular.

Will it rain or not I wondered as i left home to do the 6-7 minute walk to the river.

No wonder I never get a bird shot here. 8-9 foot high water reeds are impossible to see through.

Almost back home.

A small tree growing in the grass about 10 feet from the back of my apartment block needs closer investigation, but the ground was wet and squishy.

What a lot of flowers this red-flowering Gum still carries.

A large lovely thistle was growing on the other side of the temporary fencing the owners have place around the field. This fence is to stop people taking short-cut over the steep field to Pipemakers Park I guess, but what an eyesore it is to us residents.

Soon after I posted the mystery bird image yesterday and we concluded it was a Grey Shrike-thrush, another new bird landed on my balcony rail.

UPDATE (12th Nov) – It appears that this is a juvenile Common Starling.

Very similar to the Grey Shrike-Thrush but plainer and more brown (depending on the white balance of my camera of course). I managed to get 2 clear shots with the Sony ‘mirrorless’ and quickly dropped the camera and picked up the heavy Canon DSLR & 150-500mm lens, but couldn’t hold it as steady and the 2 images I shot, before it flew off, weren’t as sharply focused (below).

As the bird stayed such a short time, no more shots were to be had and neither new bird was seen again yesterday. As with many once-off bird shots, there is no time to compose or get the ideal angle or even, camera setting.

George, the House Sparrow, clearly visible above the blur of my computer screen.

But if George (the male House Sparrow), doesn’t put a sock in his mouth and stop his incessant tweeting this morning, I’m going to throw a sock at him.

(Just joking. Now the intercom repairman has left, I’m going for a walk).

A young female House Sparrow – Georgina, perhaps?

Georgina, the female House Sparrow, after drinking from my water dish, flies over the balcony fence and drops down to the apartment below mine to peck at their succulents.

……as to George.

If he thinks I can’t see him hiding in the young Eucalyptus next to my balcony, he’s very much mistaken.

The images below are a good example of how changing the 9 focus points in my Canon DSLR to 1 point and carefully pointing it through the breeze-shifting foliage can photograph a bird on autofocus, where my Sony a6000 on the S (small) Flexible Spot can’t (do this).

When I was in the city centre on Wednesday, I had to drop in to the Camera Store to buy another rubber eyepiece for my Sony a6000 (which I lost last week). I mentioned this ‘failing‘ to the Staff member and he was surprised that I couldn’t get a bird in focus with my Sony ‘mirrorless’ on S (small)- Flexible Spot through very thick foliage. I explained to him that the Flexible Spot setting was a small square (not a dot like a DSLR) and the edge of the square kept autofocusing on the surrounding leaves, not the bird’s face. He suggested I try manually focusing, but I explained that I can’t see enough with my thick glasses and had to rely on Autofocus for photography 🙂

I should have given the Sales Assistant (an expert photographer, as are all the Sales Assistants in Michaels Camera Store) an example.

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Some more daily happenings inmy balcony potted garden……..

I’ve had babies……..from both my 3 tomato plants and my single blueberry bush. Looks like Santa is bringing me home-grown tomatoes for Christmas and some home-grown blueberries to have for breakfast. There are actually dozens of tiny thumb-nail sized tomatoes on the 3 plants – hope they don’t all ripen at once 🙂

My brother warned me last Summer about all the birds eating them, but I had no trouble from the Avian species at all.

A clump out of the many on the Blueberry bush.

After a Winter of toadstools growing in the potting soil and all the leaves going yellow with black spots (which I kept pulling off the plant), my pink geranium has lots of new leaves and a lovely display of fresh flowers. If I didn’t know better, I’d say my Guardian, (read Gardening), Angel is looking over my balcony garden, as I’ve never really had a ‘green thumb’ per se, just followed the Water, Sun, Food …….and lots of TLC (Tender Loving Care) way of growing potted plants on an urban balcony.

The Blue Bacopa was looking a little ‘battle-weary’ from the strong winds so I put it back on the ground, instead of higher up, and the flowers have freshened up. So it’s been in bloom 375 days in a row, now. (so has the pink daisy). I know I’ve mentioned the flower bloom longevity a few posts ago, but its true. These couple of flowering plants have bloomed for the longest I’ve ever known any plant to. A horticultural friend of my brother said she had never been able to grow a Becopa plant!

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PS. Now I’m REALLY, REALLY excited (but now, will I ever get out the door for a walk?).

A male Splendid Fairy-Wren just visited my balcony garden. I managed to grab my Sony a6000 and fire off 2 shots before it flew away.

A new bird, (to me), landed on my balcony rail about an hour ago and this time……….I managed to get a quick shot (before it flew away) – obviously a good bird spotting day to stay at home in this lovely warm Spring sunshine.

I’ve pored over my Bird Guide book and a pdf of local birds trying to identify it.

It was facing into the bright sunlight coming from the upper western sky, so the head and neck were slightly over-exposed (which I tried to remedy with increasing the mid-tones in editing).

From this angle, the long beak looked straight (which suggests its not a honeyeater, which has a curved beak). Otherwise it looks a bit like a faded version of a Brown Honeyeater in my Guide book which is normally found in western, northern and north-eastern Australia.

Any Bird-lovers out there in Melbourne who could ID it and let me know in the comments section would be greatly appreciated. Keep in mind that the straight beak could merely be the angle of the shot. I can’t see any neck markings or eye details so that makes identification hard. It was about the size of a starling or honeyeater, greyish with olive? wing feathers.

I’d just sat down at my desk with my morning coffee to read my emails when………. I was surprised to see a Red Wattlebird (Anthochaere carunculata) land on the old trolley table I use for potting on my balcony. It landed on the right hand curved handle in the lower right edge of image below.

FOR THE BENEFIT OF NEW FOLLOWERS…..My desk sits in front of my apartment floor-to-ceiling windows. I like watching the House Sparrows land on my balcony or drink from my bird bath, let alone keep an eye on my flowers and herbs growing in pots. It’s like sitting in a garden every day when I’m at home. I’d only brought the blue trolley indoors yesterday to wash all the shelves and remove the spider webs and dead leaves that had accumulated over Winter. I also have trees growing in front of my balcony and on the other side of the road.

My west-facing balcony is in shadow in the mornings up until midday, or early afternoon, depending on the season. Regular followers can see how tall my tomato plants are in the top left of the image. You might also notice my pink daisy and blue Bacopa (centre of image) are STILL flowering (since I planted them in November 2016). This means they’re been in flower every day for 370 days. I had to prune the daisy right back to half its size though. It had some broken branches from the fierce winds that roar down my road and over my balcony railing.

This was about 2 feet from the back of my computer screen. I’ve never seen one around the apartments in my road before, let alone land on my balcony.

And I’m sure you know what I’m going to say…….

I put my cameras away last night after I arrived home from a dental appointment in Melbourne’s CBD.

I missed the Shot of the Year this morning!

But, I certainly got the Thrill of the Year 🙂

A Red Wattlebird has distinctive reddish/pink ‘wattles’, (or earrings I like to call them), and yellow belly, whereas a Little Wattlebird is plain.

Here’s an image I took in June last year when I lived on the north-east side of Melbourne to show you which bird I’m talking about.

They’re quite a large bird compared to my regular visiting House Sparrows.

Needless to say, I’ve just got my camera out of its bag and put it back on my desk and set it on Shutter Priority (just in case the Wattlebird comes back) 🙂

Here’s another shot, (with a branch in the way, so not considered a ‘good’ shot), taken in Frogs Hollow Nature Reserve behind my apartment block.

When I started this blog and named itLiving in Nature,it was because, by sheer good luck, my last 3 apartment rentals have had balconies to grow herbs and flowers and I’ve lived next to the Royal Botanic Gardens to the south-east of Melbourne city, the Yarra River walking trails to the north-east, or now, next to Frogs Hollow Nature Reserve and 400 hectares of parkland along the nearby Maribyrnong River.

If you’ve got to live in a city or urban area, I must be one of the luckiest people around.

Affordable rental properties are extremely hard to find in Melbourne and the inner suburbs.

The flower looks like a Salvia and the leaves look like a Salvia (Sage), so it must be a Salvia I think 🙂 Can’t remember all the flowers I photographed last Thursday, but I mustn’t have been able to get close to this flower bed (for me to not get a close-up of a single flower).

The second half of my walk last week, (after Newells Paddock Nature Reserve and the pink Rounded Noon-flowers), was through part of Footscray Park. I walked from the back riverside entrance uphill to the front entrance in order to catch a bus home.

Wikipedia says……..Footscray Park is one of the largest and most intact examples of an Edwardianpark in Australia. The 15-hectare park is located on the south bank of the Maribyrnong River in Footscrayin Victoria. It is classified as a heritage place on the Victorian Heritage Register for its aesthetic, horticultural and social significance to the State of Victoria and was the first gardens to be placed on the register. The park is noted for its botanical collection, ornamental ponds and garden structures.

The display of Peruvian Lilies near the front entrance was quite striking.

Peruvian lily (ALSTROEMERIA)

Peruvian lily (ALSTROEMERIA)

Peruvian lily (ALSTROEMERIA)

Last week there were many flowers that had wilted, (Rhododendrons in particular), OR were still in bud, so another visit is needed I think. Next weekend, and maybe the following weekend, should be about right. Many of the flowers need some more time to mature. We’ve had strong winds and a few harsh storms so maybe that why the fragile Rhododendron flowers looked so forlorn. I saw a pale soft pink one and a bright pink one that had survived.

There were only 2 very young Canna lily flowers just starting to open last week.

The colourful display of Alstroemeria, or Peruvian lilies, near the front gates seemed to last much longer. They flower from Spring through Summer to Autumn. I’ve never been there in Winter so I don’t know if they flower then. Being low ground cover, they would have survived the wind and storms far better too.

I had the use of a Sony 35mm f1.8 prime lens for a couple of weeks last Autumn and to be honest, I felt my flower images were far better at that time. Perhaps it was the overcast skies in Autumn. Bright summer sun is usually unkind to most red, yellow or white flower petals.

I always say it’s the Photographer than makes the images, but when it comes to flower photography, good light (preferably slightly overcast in Australia as our Summer sun is too bright when I go for my nature walks early afternoon) AND a good sharp prime lens makes a big difference (as you can see in the older images below).

In general I prefer to get up close and just capture a few flowers within the frame, instead of a whole bush, but occasionally, photographing the leaves and whole bush can make identification easier. In these days of digital photography it’s probably better to make a 7-8 images of each flower from all angles and chose a favourite image to share on reviewing the day’s shooting.

FLOWERING MAPLE, CHINESE LANTERN (Abutilon)

FLOWERING MAPLE, CHINESE LANTERN (Abutilon)

Peruvian lily (ALSTROEMERIA)

Canna

Parrot Lily

There’s a lovely small pond down in the lower part of Footscray Park surrounded by thick shrubs, near the Maribyrnong River, which certainly needs many more visits to try and work out how to photograph it. I didn’t visit it last week as I was heading for the bus stop via the Park, not spending the whole afternoon in the Park.

It’s hard to access with the surrounding foliage blocking some of the pond bank when I first saw it last Autumn.

I couldn’t get close enough to the water lilies at the time so used my long telephoto 150-500 lens to get a close up of a water lily flower. I didn’t have a tripod on the day either. It would be interesting to see if there are any pink water lilies in this small pond or just pale lemon (as seen below).

Although I didn’t have my long 150-500mm lens on my nature walk in Newells Paddock Nature Reserve last week, a White-Faced Heron stepped from behind a small seedling protective plastic ‘tent’ very close to me as I walked along the high path overlooking the main pond area. The rise in the path is next to the fenced-off verge near the train line.

I love watching these Herons and often see one near my home (next to Frogs Hollow Nature Reserve). I’ve even managed to photograph one of these beautiful soft blue/grey herons with a lizard (or goanna) in its mouth twice. Once next to the river 10 minutes walk from my apartment and once down at Jawbone Arboretum, Nature reserve and Marine Sanctuary in Williamstown.

White -Faced Heron at Jawbone Arboretum, Williamstown

Last Thursday, I managed to very, very slowly step towards this heron until I was about 15 feet away before the bird flew off as a runner came up the path behind me and frightened it.

The Heron watched me out of the corner of its eye as I moved closer to it, but seemed relatively passive and calm until the noise and movement of the runner (on her regular exercise route).

Here’s a better shot of this bird which I made when I lived on the north-east side of Melbourne next to the Yarra River (below). Sometimes an overcast day with plenty of light is better than a sunny day for bird photography.

As I’d planned on photographing flowers yesterday, I didn’t take my heavy long telephoto lens to do any bird photography…….and consequently missed out on some great bird shots.

The following image of a New Holland Honeyeater would have been quite a good shot if I’d had the 150-500 lens with me.

A couple of images (below) show all the landscaping and planting in the newer Conservation area near the train line made by either the local Council OR The Friends of Newells Paddock.

When complete, far into the future, this Nature Reserve will be an oasis amidst the inner western urban area of Melbourne. Even now, its worth walking through.

This Conservation area will also join up with the whole 400+ hectares of green belt along the Maribyrnong River right up to where I live next to Frogs Hollow Nature Reserve and further on.

I love the way Melbourne and its suburbs are restoring the original wetlands and bush areas back to what it was before white settlement in the early 1800s in the many wastelands or empty residential blocks.

You may see lots of apartment building construction sites along the many rivers, but they are balanced with green spaces wherever possible.

I did photograph some of the grasses in the area and then (for the first time) walked up the raised area via the proper gravel path to see over the multitude of aqua/green plastic tents protecting newly planted young seedlings.

Normally I cut straight across the area near the pond to photograph the water birds.

The ominous looking clouds passed by quickly and the sun came out just as I exited the back entrance to the Reserve to walk along the river path.

This was a new grass (to me) – it looked very soft and fluffy

Australian Native grass typical to the area

This grass was like walking on a sponge. Looked ordinary, but was just as spongy as walking on the Rounded Noon-flower succulent

Near the back entrance I saw a rabbit running by and caught a quick shot of it (upper right) before some walkers chattering loudly behind me scared it away.

One of those bird shots I missed not having a long lens

After I walked out the back entrance, I used the Maribyrnong River walking/cycling path to get to Footscray Park and a multitude of Spring flowers, but that will be another post (when I get around to reviewing and choosing some images from the many I shot yesterday afternoon).

While we’re on the subject of Noon-flowers, I figured I may as well go to NewellsPaddock (as well as the Jawbone Nature Reserve walk a few days previously), to see if the squishy bed of succulents I had walked over on previous visits in Winter was the same as the bright pink Rounded Noon-flower I have photographed on my walks along the Maribyrnong River.

You can read the background behind Newells Paddock Nature Reserve here and its worth reading about as well as viewing the second image in the link, to gain an appreciation of what a unique area it has become. The article is not too long. The Friends of Newells Paddock, with the help of the local council, are ensuring the return to wetlands and nature reserve continues as an ongoing project by the planting of hundreds of indigenous trees and plants.

Yesterday it was truly magical and I’m not sure that the ‘101’ photos I took do it justice. In fact I was so moved by the beauty of the scene, I literally had tears in my eyes.

Last night I tried to reduce the number of images down, but in the end I still have about 25 to share.

When I entered the picnic area, I walked over to the trees and found one or two Noon-flowers in an enormous carpet of green succulents and wondered if it would be a ‘no-show’ and a wasted trip.

This tiny area looked gloomy and rather forbidding on such a cloudy day with poor light in general (for photography). Looks like a large tree has fallen in a storm (below). No doubt the council will clean this area up soon.

After walking through this tree area, I was taken aback to see not a little, but a sea of pink sprinkled between patches of green and other native grasses.

One Noon-flower near the entrance….

…and then a sea of pink

A spotted Turtle-dove sat on the fence quite happy in my company

If you look carefully near the centre of the flock of Silver Gulls you can see an Australian White Ibis with its long black beak. It flew away quickly as I tried to get closer.

Standing in this sea of pink, I bent over to try and photograph it up close.

To the upper right you can see a viewing platform (accessible from the river path).

In the distance the rail bridge and the city of Melbourne is clearly visible.

In the upper part of this image is the rail line on the southern rim of the reserve.

I made this photo after leaving the area and going up to the viewing platform

After taking about a hundred photos, I walked to the back entrance connecting with the river path and the sun came out. There was no way I was going to go back and re-photograph the flowers in the improved light conditions. As it was, I hated walking over the flower patches and squashing them in the first place.

A few more images to share in another post……..not Rounded Noon-flowers.

Further to my previous post on my visit to the Jawbone Flora and Fauna Reserve and Lakes system yesterday, I’ve found my original photo of the Signage at the entrance to the Jawbone Arboretum (which I didn’t enter yesterday). In the bottom left-hand corner it shows an image of the pink Rounded Noon-flower in bloom.

This was the plant that I was hoping to photograph yesterday. You can see it very faintly by the pink patch on the left hand side of this image (below). The lake is between where I was standing and the patch nearer to the sea.

This image (below) made on my very first visit to the area some months ago, suggests that I should have gone into the Arboretum area again and I would have found all that brownish-green succulent would now be covered in a sea of pink flowers?

Just to remind you of the Rounded Noon-flower which I found in many small patches along the Maribyrnong River last week, here’s an example (below).

Yesterday was one of those days when you’re not quite sure if its going to be bright/sunny, rain, storm or just plain…..windy (like it is 360 days of the year in Melbourne).

Actually, the wind wasn’t too bad at all.

I even captured an Australian Pelican in flight – a first for me.A distant Australian Pelican spreads its wings

I set off around midday with only one Canon DSLR & short (17-50mm) lens for potential flower photography and my Sony ‘mirrorless’ and 55-210mm lens for some ‘close-up’ bird photography.

After seeing some of those gorgeous pink/mauve coloured flowers along the Maribyrnong River last week, I was sure to see a bed of these succulent flowers in the Flora reserve on yesterday’s walk (I thought).

The heavy long ‘birding’ telephoto 150-500mm lens stayed at home.

At this early stage of my walk, just past the fishermen’s club in the top left, the sun was out for a while.

I could see it was high tide and hardly any rocks visible in the distance.

The Conservation area is a lovely mix of Australian grasses.

Next to the walking/cycling trail between the housing estate and the sanctuary had just had its grass mown.

At this early point in the walk, I headed towards the houses and a fenced off pond I had seen on a previous visit, but not stopped to walk around.

I didn’t have a polarizing lens for either camera, but could see a couple or orange fish in the pond.

A Dandelion head caught my eye.

The wind picked up a bit, but I managed to capturing some dried seed heads blowing in the wind.

There are almost no shade-giving trees on this coastal walk next to the Jawbone Arboretum area.

I deliberately revisited the ‘hide’ , but wasn’t sure whether I could capture any bird life with the Sony 55-210mm lens.

One of the failings of the Sony a6000 ‘mirrorless’ camera is the inability to focus through reeds and high grasses, but I managed to get a shot focusing on the Australian Pelican’s head which rose above the high water reeds between the hide and the rocks.

My Canon DSLR and long telephoto lens (at home) would have easily pointed to birds between these reeds.

Part of the lakes system with the industrial area of Altona in the far distance.

This is the closest shot I got of the Cormorants out on one of the islands.

The cormorants were just too far away at this point.

As you can see, very little shade and few trees.

This wind swept tree shows some of the effect of bayside gale force winds over the years and I moved around to get a better shot.

At this point the light disappeared behind some cloud cover and I decided to cut my walk short.

Far into the distance the Range Lakes System goes further on, but will keep for another day.

This is a better shot of that windswept tree typical of the few trees in the Conservation area. Bent right over as its grown, I guess it will eventually break when it grows too high and heavy.

Heading off into a residential area towards the main road where I hoped there would be a bus stop

This area of Williamstown is a beautiful area to live with lots of native plants and flowers interspaced over a wide patch of greenery

A pale lemon coloured Callistemon

Lovely red foliage from what is probably an Australian native

A wonderful array of bright red Callistemons down a small laneway.

And a lovely patch of Statice or Sea Lavender outside the fence of a residential garden.

I had this idea of doing the full coastal walk from the bus stop near Williamstown beach (lower right hand corner of the map) right up to the Koroit Creek (upper left handcorner of the map), along the Lakes system on the coast. I planned to walk right next to the lake bank wherever possible, maybe explore the Flora on the strip of land between the Lakes System and Port Phillip Bay and then cut down a side residential road to where I hoped to pick up a bus (#415) back to the regular bus route (#472) heading towards home.

The dotted line marks my route along yesterday’s walk. Not that far as the crow flies, but as I stop regularly to take photos, the walk lengthens in duration accordingly

As it turned out, overcast conditions and ominous cloud cover spread over the sky about 75% along the walk and I decided to call it quits for the day (and finish the coastal walk another time). I’m thinking that now I know the #415 bus goes all the way along the main road (top of map), next visit I’ll start from the top left point, heading south-east down to Williamstown beach (and hot Fish-n-Chips afternoon tea) and have the sun behind me for better images ……(I hope).

Two-thirds of the way along yesterday’s walk, when I wanted to cross over to the reserve area between the lakes and Port Phillip Bay, I was brought to an abrupt (and disappointing) halt due to a locked chain-wire gate and fencing.

So I ended up just walking along the lake bank (with most of the flora and bird-life out of range).

Here you can see 3 Pied (or Little Pied) Cormorants on rocks at the edge of the island in one of the lakes. Far into the distance you can see the industrial area of Altona.This was the closest I got to bird life with a group of Silver Gulls washing their feathers on the lake bank.As you can see from this image, I didn’t have a hope of capturing much of the bird life on the islands due to the distance (and no long telephoto lens).

Still, it was a very enjoyable afternoon and a fine break from putting my Mother’s 30 years of family history research on to the computer.

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At the moment, I’m slowly working my way through transferring the whaling diary of my Great Great Grandfather’s brother (which is absolutely fascinating), on to the computer. But its slow work as the Auto Spell-check keeps changing the words I’m typing into modern spelling OR, a completely un-related word, (when the auto spell-check can’t understand the old fashioned term). I’ve only typed 6 pages (out of 57 foolscap-sized ones and set up a private Website for family so far) and can see I’ll have to re-read my typing many times to ensure I have captured the original story with all its quirky expressions and old-fashioned manner of speech.

I’m sure you can appreciate how my new(ish) Hobby of transferring this work to computer is going to take some time over the next year. Inserting maps, photos and images of the 1800s which my Mother collected will also add to the task. One lever arch file 3″ thick with notes, research and typing will take me quite some time to transcribe.

But, I’m sure it will be worth it, when the whole family and extended family has the opportunity to read My Mother’s Story (which she spent 30 years researching and writing).